An open letter to the ECG Boss: stick to loadshedding (January 27, 2025) pg 27
I am fuming with anger and frustration as I write this letter. It has been five days and four nights without electricity at home.
I had just arrived home on Monday evening (January 19, 2015) at about 8 o’clock when the power went off.
In the last two days, I have called the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Customer Care hotline to complain about the plight of residents of the Achimota ABC Railway Quarters and its environs.
It has since been a tale of contradictions. On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 when I called, a gentleman by name Bright received the call, asked me to hold on for about two minutes only to say that on Monday, my area was scheduled to go off.
I don’t know whether to call it a miscalculation or a blatant lie, because we were to go off the next morning.
Then he throws in what really pissed me off. According to him, there had been a shortfall of power at a sub-station at Mallam, that supplies power to my area and other areas, and that my area was hit with an emergency load shedding.
When I told him that sounds like a fairytale because across the street, my neighbours have had power almost every night, he was at his apologetic best, but maintained that the situation was an emergency load shedding.
The next day, I called around 6 p.m and the person on the other side of the line was Agnes. She again apologised profusely for what had happened.
Again, I was asked to hold on while she checked what was wrong.
To my uttermost surprise, Agnes said there was no record of complaint about the rather long blackout.
She asked if I had made a complaint about the situation, to which I responded in the affirmative.
Before we ended our discussion, the line went off.
When I called again, it was yet again another Bright who picked the call. I went over my predicament and that of my entire neighbourhood.
The apology came. I received it, but that is not what I was interested in.
Bright again took the complaint, but said he could not generate a reference code for me because their system was down.
When I insisted on knowing when I had to call back to find out when the issue would be resolved, Bright could not give any timeline.
“These things follow a certain process,” was all he could say.
Now, there are a few questions to ask.
The inconsistency in the stories the ECG churned out was simply untenable. How come in the same area, one group of people in one part get power almost everyday, while those in another part is declared as being under an emergency load shedding?
Is the ECG call centre a place to just calm down customers, rather than act on information received?
How come power supply to one area could be off for five straight days without power and the excused was emergency load shedding?
From my layman’s perspective, I want to ask if the ECG have any dashboard to show areas that are off and others with faulty equipment?
For areas that the ECG had received threats and intimidation over the years, this disservice to customers is no longer an issue If you must shed load, at least let the schedule work.
I had just arrived home on Monday evening (January 19, 2015) at about 8 o’clock when the power went off.
In the last two days, I have called the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Customer Care hotline to complain about the plight of residents of the Achimota ABC Railway Quarters and its environs.
It has since been a tale of contradictions. On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 when I called, a gentleman by name Bright received the call, asked me to hold on for about two minutes only to say that on Monday, my area was scheduled to go off.
I don’t know whether to call it a miscalculation or a blatant lie, because we were to go off the next morning.
Then he throws in what really pissed me off. According to him, there had been a shortfall of power at a sub-station at Mallam, that supplies power to my area and other areas, and that my area was hit with an emergency load shedding.
When I told him that sounds like a fairytale because across the street, my neighbours have had power almost every night, he was at his apologetic best, but maintained that the situation was an emergency load shedding.
The next day, I called around 6 p.m and the person on the other side of the line was Agnes. She again apologised profusely for what had happened.
Again, I was asked to hold on while she checked what was wrong.
To my uttermost surprise, Agnes said there was no record of complaint about the rather long blackout.
She asked if I had made a complaint about the situation, to which I responded in the affirmative.
Before we ended our discussion, the line went off.
When I called again, it was yet again another Bright who picked the call. I went over my predicament and that of my entire neighbourhood.
The apology came. I received it, but that is not what I was interested in.
Bright again took the complaint, but said he could not generate a reference code for me because their system was down.
When I insisted on knowing when I had to call back to find out when the issue would be resolved, Bright could not give any timeline.
“These things follow a certain process,” was all he could say.
Now, there are a few questions to ask.
The inconsistency in the stories the ECG churned out was simply untenable. How come in the same area, one group of people in one part get power almost everyday, while those in another part is declared as being under an emergency load shedding?
Is the ECG call centre a place to just calm down customers, rather than act on information received?
How come power supply to one area could be off for five straight days without power and the excused was emergency load shedding?
From my layman’s perspective, I want to ask if the ECG have any dashboard to show areas that are off and others with faulty equipment?
For areas that the ECG had received threats and intimidation over the years, this disservice to customers is no longer an issue If you must shed load, at least let the schedule work.
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